One more chapter, I hope you guys enjoy it ^^

I have to study a lot so my chapter output is kind of small.

Enjoy.

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How did it end up this way?

Haaa, asking myself while holding the stump where my left arm had been. I reduced the bleeding to a minimum but stopping every single signal of pain coming to my brain was hard.

Ha..ha...h...aaa.

Around me was pure chaos. On the way to a rest stop shit had gotten real. The drive should only have taken an hour at most going at normal speed but at some point Viktor had gotten a call telling him that the others had engaged on someone and that it was only a matter of minutes when the military would come. As such he had told me to go as fast as I could...

After 10 minutes we saw smoke.

After 15 minutes we could see the light.

After 20 we could hear the screams.

It had been . Karif, Rachel, Lane and Mikael were fighting against him.

I could only make out different figures in the ruin of the rest stop. Lane had gone all out apparently. Craters marked the points of impact of her power. Green clouds of gas emerged from everywhere and the things that touched it fell into ruin almost immediately.

I wanted to drive further towards them but something had hit the car and exploded.

I lost my arm, two fingers of my other hand and a big part of my skin... and most of my clothes.

After I had regained my composure I noticed the one responsible.

A few hundred meters in front of us was a pillar of flame. It was around 5 foot something but the disturbing thing was that it had a face. At random intervals flames spewed out of it and flew towards people hiding away.

It was definitely a esper. Probably one of the other two Viktor had talked about.

Leaning against what's left of our car I stopped the bleeding.

Shit!! Viktor.

I look around but cannot find him. Well, he did say he was in the information department.

"Alex? Are you alright?"

Ey?!

Viktors voice interrupts my thoughts.

It sounds weirdly distorted.

"Shit, your arm. I need to reach Lane right now, we need to retreat from this whole thing and let the military handle the whole thing. It's too dangerous."

"How are you alive?" I ask him through my clenched teeth.

"My power is to be able to lag behind everything, it makes me unable to take physical damage from certain sources as long as I concentrate but I cannot attack anyone with it too.

Alex, listen. I need you to divert the flame esper. If he notices me he can use an area of effect type of ability to burn me down.

You cannot let him notice me, you got that?!!?"

Without letting me answer I can feel someone grab me by my remaining arm and shove me out into the open.

"NOW!"

I stumble forward.

Did he just push me? What is this shit.

While I feel his hand touching me I attach a hotspot for black matter on his arm. He will regret this.

Then he lets go and I can see a weird figure running forward in sudden stuttering movements.

Che! What an asshole.

Before I can react a loud whoosh marks the arrival of my enemy. The pillar of flame appears in front of me and a fireball hits me square in the upper body.

Luckily I had been prepared this time.

I took the blast but thanks to me hardening my cells this time and using parts of my armor I don't take a lot of damage.

I still get knocked back multiple feet before coming to a stop.

"HmMJMMmmMMMmMMmMm? HoW DiD YOU surVIve tHAt? aRe yoU an ESpeR bY ANy ChancE?"

Gah its voice sounds like female but flickerish like the flame she is.

"It seems I am. It doesn't matter who I am. I simpl-" I groan as I lose concentration for a split second and the pain of my body overcomes me.

"haaa.h.aaaah.aaa"

Breathing heavily I regain my composure and work on the burns all over my body.

I need to delay her attacking me so I can heal up. Although body parts take way too long to regenerate.

"I am." My burnt cells all commit programmed suicide and detach themselves from my body.

"INteRestiNG! Are YOu PerCHAnce AcquAINtanCEs WiTH THeM FighTING ?"

Haaaaaa

I take one more breath as the last parts of decayed skin fall off my face and my naked legs.

"WaS ZuM teUFeL!?!?! MÄdch- GIRL WhAt ARE YOu?!? A New MILtaRY ProjECt?"

I smile now. I only need one arm to use my power.

I cannot fight a pillar of fire with gravity. But it is not that easy to use two powers at the same time. Nobody except me should know about it but the amount of concentration that I would need to keep my cells hardened and flexible while still keeping up my armor is immense. Also gravity will only be of use when the main body is visible.

Well, my main power will not be very effective either but at least I can defend myself with it.

The pillar too will have to rely on concentration to keep that transformation up.

If it gets down to it I'll probably have to keep regenerating until she loses her patience and I find an opening to get to the main or true body.

"I actually do not want to fight you, if you just ignore me and the others we won't have to fight in any kind of way."

"YoU doN'T WAnT tO fIGHt mE? SadLY I HavE bEEN oRdeREd TO kEEP tHE SMallFry AWAy FrOM ZerFaLL. He HAs EnOUGh to DEal WIth. YoU wiLL BuRN."

With that the small talk ends and something explodes directly to the left of me.

Since my cells have been hardened I barely take any damage, though some of the skin from my lower body gets blasted off. I fly a few feet to the right and ram into the ground.

Kuuu, luckily we trained for this so we wouldn't lose concentration in crucial moments like these.

I get up and face my enemy again.

"INTeResTINg aRE You ONe oF The NEw TyPEs oF ThE MiliTARy? WE HeaRD Of tHE nEw CYbeRnETicS THat HavE bEEn inStaLLEd? LeTS PLAY!"

Haaa, she seems kind of crazy. But who isn't with that kind of power?

Since I cannot do a lot against her I rush into the cover of two flipped cars.

Explosions resound behind me and I can feel the shockwave barely behind me.

"RuNNING?! yOU CannOT RUn! ALLEs IsT ENTfLammBAR!"

I don't know what she's saying. But I know what she's doing.

Barely dodging my exploding cover I feel dozens of little metal shards piercing my skin.

I disrupt most signals of pain send to my brain do minimize the pain but some still does get through.

I turn to face the pillar again. Surprised I notice that it has turned into the shape of what seems to be a small girl completely made out of flame.

She seems to be laughing but because of the explosion I cannot make out exactly.

Che.

I concentrate on regenerating parts of my ear so the annoying high pitched sound disappears.

" -eem like a military project. But it seems I cannot play with you anymore. needs help, so I have to finish this quickly. Did you know that I don't simply control fire? I can make any object extremely flammable... ThAT INclUDeS YOU!"

While I was still wondering why she had been talking normally something was happening with my skin.

Before I could react my entire body lit up in flames.

Completely burning I looked at my also flaming adversary. My skin turned black but I didn't care.

The outer layer didn't feel much anyways. It only got dangerous if it pierced the second layer.

I start walking towards her with slow heavy steps. The further I get the more can I feel the heat.

My cells keep regenerating at the outer part. Behind me a cloud of burnt skin floats around.

The heat hurts.

"HAHAhaAhAHAahAHAhAAAaaa! ThIS Is GrEAT. I Can KEEp BurNiNG YoU. BUT FoR HoW lOnG Can YoU lAST?!"

I kept walking. I could easily survive this but I put everything on the card that she did not see a strong enemy in me and had underestimated me.

Only a few feet still separate me and the girl. My entire body hurts and I'm not able to simply stop the pain from reaching my brain without risking to fail in regenerating my body.

I extend my remaining hand towards her shoulder.

A look of boredom is the only reaction I get from the girl.

"You think you can defeat me like this? Pathetic. Here, surprise me. If you can touch me without being turned into charcoal I'll stop the ignition."

Her voice switched again and the flames around my body heat up even more.

I start screaming and push my hand even further.

She thinks I am weak. Pathetic even. SHE DARES!?!?!

My face twists and I start smiling cruelly as my hand touches her shoulder.

While my arm rapidly burns away I form the nail from my middle finger into a pointy needle and ram it into her shoulder.

The scream she puts out is honey for my ears. But I can only enjoy it for a small amount of time. Just after I had managed to pierce her skin an explosion blasted me away from her. It was too late though.

Laughing like a maniac I hit the ground a couple of times before coming to a sudden stop hitting a wall.

The heat around my body had lessened considerably so I was able to regenerate.

The girl was still screaming. Mostly because some of my cells had been inserted into her body.

As such she had committed a grave mistake of letting me touch her.

"ES BREEENNT!! ES BRENNT!"

Ha, screaming won't help you out anymore. You're already dead.

I had sent a simple order to my cells inside of her body.

Take over genetic material AND COMMIT SUICIDE!

"MACHT, DASS ES AUFHÖRT!!! BITTE!!"

The flames on my body die out and my whole body quickly returns to its normal condition, minus the missing limbs.

After getting up I look towards my enemy. The flames around her body have disappeared. All that remains is a young girl whose veins are slowly turning black.

Coughing she looks up to me.

I never would have guessed that she was just a small girl.

I pity her, but I even if I stop my cells now I won't be able to return her to the way she had been before.

Without showing any emotions I look down on her, just as her face starts decaying.

It reminds me of what had happened to my parents when I was eight.

My eyes turn hard. This is who I am.

"Disappear from my life."

With those words I make every single one of my cells inside of her die off immediately. What remains is a partial decayed corpse of a small 13 year old girl, her face twisted in pain.

I am despicable...

Che.

The end justifies the means.

The end justifies the means.

haaaa.

Finished with my struggle I turn towards where I expect the others to fight.

I was mad. I just killed a small girl. Granted she was probably crazy but regardless I still ended her life.

I did not need to walk for long. Behind a pile of rubble I could hear someone moaning.

Carefully sneaking around it I catch the view of Viktor lying on top of it with what seems to be multiple broken limbs and a metal shard slightly embedded in his chest. He would probably survive this.

"What happened Viktor?" I slowly move towards him.

A coughing voice answers me.

"Alex...The other one is around here. I don't know what he did. You need to tell the others to retreat as soon as possible. I'll be fine..."

Ha. You think you'll be fine?

You are HER cousin. There is no way that I could pass on this opportunity.

I crouch down in front of him.

"Hey Vik, how is your relationship with your cousin?"

He answers me with a puzzled face.

"W...What do you mea-" His own coughs interrupt him.

I stare into his eyes.

"Yea, I think she is really fond of you. What a pity that you won't return"

"Alexand-"

Before he can finish uttering my name I increase the weight of the metal shard and it pierces through his entire body.

Kuuuuu

Lane will be quite sad.

I like the though.

My smile turns wicked and I start laughing.

"Alex? What are you doing?"

Shit.